Sandy Stewart, left, the chair of the Rutgers Board of Trustees, and, Greg Brown, right, the chair of the Rutgers Board of Governors, worked with state policymakers to restructure the governance of the university.

Photography:

Nick Romanenko; courtesy Motorola

The Rutgers Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees took bold steps to restructure the governance of the university by embracing legislation and bylaw changes that will reduce voting membership on the Board of Trustees from 59 voting members to 41. The changes, which grew out of the boards’ Joint Task Force on Governance, were quickly introduced in the New Jersey State Senate and Assembly and enacted by Governor Chris Christie.

The legislature’s action was the result of several months of discussions between Board of Governors chair Greg Brown LC’82, Board of Trustees chair Sandy Stewart CCAS’81, GSC’87, (both of whom are members of the Rutgers Hall of Distinguished Alumni), and state policymakers, including Senate President Steve Sweeney. The cooperative and cordial relationship that was forged by all three leaders preserves the unique independence and governance of Rutgers and marks what Brown called, “a constructive environment going forward.”

Sweeney praised the boards’ actions and noted: “Rutgers is changing itself, and I applaud these efforts. Rutgers is a world-class research university that has grown in size and stature, and we all want to see that continue.”

Stewart said that the changes, “demonstrate the full commitment of the Board of Trustees to make the changes it needs to help Rutgers maintain and improve its position among the world’s finest research universities.”

“The action that the Board of Governors took reflects the broadly held belief that governance at the university can, and must, keep pace with the dramatic changes that have occurred at Rutgers in the past few years and certainly since the Rutgers Act was first codified in 1956,” Brown said.

The changes endorsed by the boards sailed through the legislature without a single dissenting vote in either chamber. Change is hard, but it is made so much easier when people of goodwill find common ground and a shared purpose.